Even as the displaced victims of Muzaffarnagar riots are trying to overcome the trauma of the mindless violence that they have been through in the recent past, the insensitivity of the Forest department has added insult to their injury.
The Forest department has lodged an FIR against the riot-victims living in a relief camp in Malakpur village, 10 km from Kairana in Shamli district, for damaging trees in the area and illegally camping in its land. The camp at Malakpur village is sheltering over 9,000 displaced riot victims. In the FIR, Regional Forest Officer of Kairana range, Narendra Kumar Pal, has said that several trees have been harmed while setting up the relief camp. He has asked the police to get the forest land vacated at the earliest.
The relief camp was set up by the village head with the help of senior police officials of the district on September 12. It is divided into six blocks, each having over 100 tents. Gunjan Singh, a medical volunteer working in the area, said that as many as 50 childbirths had taken place in the camp since September 12 and there were over 150 pregnant women there. Singh added that the relief camp in Kairana had also recorded 28 childbirths.
The victims in the camp hail from the villages of Shamli, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar districts. While talking to ‘The Pioneer’, Circle Officer of Kairana, Vijay Kumar, said that an FIR had been lodged by the Regional Forest Officer of Kairana range and law would take its course.
He, however, added that as the matter was sensitive, a humane approach would be adopted and safety of the displaced persons would be the priority of the police. The Regional Forest Officer, in his complaint, said that action should be taken against the "intruders" and the land be vacated at the earliest. A senior official of the Forest department said that prima facie the report lodged by the RFO was justified as per rules. He however, hastened to add that as the forest land was the property of the Government, the rules could be relaxed in special cases.
The victims taking shelter in the camp have no time to grieve the loss of lives and property as they are preoccupied with the quest for food and medical aid. Abdul Gaffar, who came to the camp from Fugana hamlet on September 14, said that god was testing their patience. "I am living like a refugee in my own country and that to in the regime of a party I chose. I lost my house, village and people. Now, we are told that we cannot even use wood to cook food," Gaffar said. Wiping his tears, another riot-victim, Mohammed Kamil of Bahawadi village, said he had an entire family to feed. Rajiv Yadav, an activist, said the FIR lodged by the Forest department was a cruel joke on the riot victims.